“Wilson Betemit isn’t going to get traded for relief pitching.”
No, he was traded for relief pitching and an infielder and cash. The Dodgers win the Betemit sweepstakes, giving up Danys Baez, Willy Aybar, and “cash considerations”. I don’t know if I like it, but it’s better than the straight-up one reliever trade they’ve been talking about. Aybar was a top prospect a couple of years ago, and has actually played pretty well this year. I’ll write up Baez and Aybar tomorrow afternoon probably.
UPDATE: Dodger Press Release. It’s more detailed than the Braves’ release and confirms that there was cash sent the Braves’ way. It’s possible that this deal won’t cost anything financially.
Also, it’s not Betemit’s birthday. They’re working by the old, false birth certificate. His true birthday is in November, and he’s currently 24, not 26. I feel a certain amount of proprietary interest in this matter, because I’m the one who got Sean Forman to change the information on Baseball-Reference to the correct date.
This Fn Sucks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like Aybar, I am rather indifferent to Baez, and I like Betemit a lot. At least I also like the Dodgers, so I won’t have any problem hoping that Betemit continues to succeed.
What I like the most about this trade is that Aybar can step in where Betemit left off. He’ll be a downgrade from Betemit, but it won’t be like trotting Pete Orr or Martin Prado out there when Chipper Jones goes down. Baez helps the bullpen, and we won’t have to see Jorge Sosa again until September. The cash considerations probably mean that Colletti will take Schuerholz out for a beer next time the Dodgers and Braves play each other.
An acceptable trade. I am very happy that none of the other rumored deals happened.
What the hell is this?!?! After what happened to Chipper tonight?!?!
I really don’t know. Betemit’s played very well this year, but Aybar’s younger, his peripherals are really nice (his secondary average is almost as good as Betemit’s and his OBP is higher) and I’m very surprised that the Dodgers gave him up. It may be that they’ve got something else in the works involving Betemit for prospects.
Well, all right, I’ll buy that, but I was convinced they weren’t going to trade Betemit. That’s why it hit me so hard.
I love wilson. So I am irrational in any trade. This sucks. Makes me regerte not going tonight. My wife is going to be pissed.. every player she likes gets traded or let go.
I just looked up the #’s and no matter how much we all like Betemit, it’s really hard to fault JS for making this deal.
I have been a staunch critic, but to get a reliever at least equally as good as linebrink (in Baez) and to get a 3rd Baseman with bigger upside then Betemit even, (Aybar), again, this really isn’t a bad deal for the Braves…we get immediate help relief-wise and have another 3rd Baseman to plug in while Chipper is hurt.
I know we all like Betemit, I wish we could have traded Max Ramirez a 2nd time, but still, Schuerholz did a really good job here.
I have to assume this trade was finalized before Chipper got hurt tonight, and I also have to assume that JS was about to throw up when he saw Chipper in pain. He probably thinks he traded Betemit for Betemit II and Baez, and I hope he’s right.
I guess my dislike for this trade is just that it blindsided me and I like Betemit. We shall see.
I finally figured out the pitching problem. It’s the A-Rod syndrome.
A-Rod plays like an All-Star when there is no pressure on and plays like a minor leaguer when the game is on the line.
If the Braves are winning, the bullpen cannot hold a lead if their collective lives depended on it. If the Braves are losing, like tonight, they pitch like All-Stars! Call it the A-Rod syndrome.
Didn’t the Dodgers already have 12 utility infielders? What good is this from their end?
I didnt want to trade Betemit and i will miss him, but this trade almost had to be done. Baez will be our closer next year if Wickman doesnt stay. HOw much cash did we get and what is Baez contract. I guess we’ll see Aybar very soon since Chip is injured again.
watch them Flip Betemit to another team and make our trade look terrible. We know have two closers and hopefully Baez can be a great setup guy. Who’s getting sent down, Sosa maybe?
NYmets
#39. July 28th, 2006, at 10:20 PM.
How do you or anyone else here now the trade is stupid? Do you personaly scout this guy? He could flurish with the braves for all you know. Give the guy a shot before you all cry what a bad trade. Your team generaly does well come trade deadline, so give them the benifit of the doubt.
Finally some people see the light. JEEZ!
i like the trade. makes me feel somewhat confident in the bullpen. but you KNOW our starters are going to be the problem now.
there just might be too many holes to plug up this year. please convince me otherwise…
Decent move by JS–much better than the trial ballon of Betemit for Proctor. Betemit and Aybar are roughly a wash–a sacrifice of 25 OPS points. Baez is then essentially a free piece and he’s a pretty good piece–his ERA looks ugly (4.35) but his WHIP is a decent 1.3, he has a nearly 3-1 K/BB ratio, and has only allowed 3 HoRams in 45 or so innings. The bad news–apparently he’s a FA after this year so this deal does not solve the closer situation for next year.
I hate to say it, but NY METS is right in this instance. I like the trade, in the sense that they were going to trade Betemit for a reliever anyway, and this way they got a legitimate, major-league-ready young player to go with the reliever and the Dodgers apparently picked up at least some of the tab.
Wryn, I would not be surprised if Betemit’s stay in LA is very short and he gets moved on for prospects in the next three days.
Betemit is an upgrade for the Dodgers at third base; Aybar is more of a middle infielder. The Dodgers will probably play Izturis at second. I have to think that JS is thinking of Aybar as more of a pending replacement for Giles (or at least an upgrade on Orr). I’m more worried about the loss of defense at third base for the short term than the offense. I wonder if Kelly Johnson is going to see more time at third base this spring.
Everyone here is being rational except you, NYmets.
So, who plays third tomorrow? Even if this is a great trade, I’ll still miss Betemit. That’s really funny considering I just started to like him like in the last month to six weeks. So now, assuming the Dodgers won’t turn right around and trade him again, watching the Dodgers with Furcal and Betemit will make me wish for last year again.
Well, Happy Birthday Wilson! Thank you for everything you did for us. Go now, do well, but play really, really badly whenever the Braves are in the opposing dugout…
(And we were just discovering how to pronounce his last name, too!)
The birthday is ironic, ‘Rissa.
By the way, Furcal was named the worst off season acquisition in SI.
Scratch my “rational” comment. Forgot about the first few. 🙂
And don’t forget that in the offseason, the price for Baez was a former top ten prospect (Edwin Jackson, who needs to consult a shrink) and a current top fifty prospect (Chuck Tiffany, who is already consulting Dr. Andrews). Renting him at that price would have been stupid. Now… the price is really a lot lower. I was a Betemit booster when everyone had given up on him, but it’s not clear that Betemit is a more valuable commodity than Aybar alone. Whatever Baez gives you is gravy.
Baez makes 4mil this year.
Which is less than $2 million considering that the season is more than half over, and the Dodgers supposedly kicked some money in.
I hope so.
I just hope for his sake, Baez is going to play like 05 Baez. And JS better re-sign Baez and Wickman this better not be the same rental shit that we go through all of the time. The # 1 problem going into next year better not the fucking bullpen.
well i am shocked, with chipper going down tonight. Can Aybar lead-off? Maybe chipper can come back quick. Baez will be be an upgrade for our bullpen
Well Baez has been 18 flavors of horrible out here with the Dodgers and we don’t have Leo around to fix these guys any more. We just punted Betemit for a guy who, if everything breaks right, might be Betemit someday. Pretty useless.
It’s getting to the point where we are sellers here not buyers. Taking on other teams expensive problem relief pitchers is not what I have in mind.
As noted in my update, it’s not Wilson’s birthday.
Baez is terrible. This is the exact moment where it’s hit me that the run is over. Baez is going to be worse than Kolb. JS needs to just remove himself from any reliever decisions from here on out. I know nothing about Aybar, he may make it all worthwhile but I do know that Baez is bad.
What’s the word on Aybar’s defense? Does he have good range? A good arm? What kind of fielding % does he have? I haven’t seen him play and stats don’t tell the whole story. Mac has mentioned before that we need to improve our fielding to help our ground ball pitchers.
If Aybar is a good fielder, I think this could be a good trade. I like Betemit, but I’m not sure if his value will ever be higher than it is now. He’s made some decent plays defensively, but he’s not much of a ss (or 2nd baseman at this point) and has made quite a few errors. I agree that this is a lot better than only getting a pitcher.
Well this is a much better trade than the Linebrink or Proctor ones. It kind of hurts to give up Betemit the day we see Chipper go down in agony, but the fact that Chipper will probably have to be disabled means the Braves are done this year. We gave it a good try but injuries and JS waiting too long to fix the bullpen did us in. Assuming Baeys pitches like he did for Tampa Bay the last few years, this trade should be a big plus for next year. I wonder what JS could get with a last minute sell off of garbage like Hudson and Giles.
Oops. I guess we won’t have Baeyz next year unless JS signs him to an extension. I suppose Aybar for Betemit is a roughly even trade of utility infielders and Baeyz can’t be worse than Sosa for the rest of the year.
snellville, Kelly Johnson “seeing more time at third base in the spring,” when did he see time at third base ??? Did I miss something or was he playing there on his rehab before he went under the knife ?? I know KJ was a shortstop before he moved to left, but I never heard third base before …. Please enlighten
Lurking Met fan here : Why the hell did the Braves trade Betemit??? And for a reliever with a less that stellar year so far. The kid was solid. Is Baez that much better than what you already have in the pen to justify the trade?